Clip+ Sound Quality, really?? - Page 12

While it's true that usb2 isn't the bottleneck when it comes to filling up cards (the speed of the cards memory is), I definitely look forward to usb3 being more commonplace myself, especially when it comes to external 2.5 drives -- real word transfers are about 2.5 times as fast, *big* difference.

Time to get more music.

That may be true with read speeds, but write speeds are usually quite different; more often than not, you get what you pay for. It's worth the price difference if you are using the card right. It's too bad that many people don't even notice a difference in write speeds no matter what class card they have, because they are transferring via their devices which often don't use their card's full bandwidth capabilities. This is why using a good card reader can save you a lot of time; you will be able to transfer your music as fast as the card will allow. And it's where an investment in a faster card with faster write speeds can save you the most time -- a 2MB/s class 2 card will take about 3 times as long to fill as a 6MB/s class 6 card.

I think class 2 cards were tolerable enough when it was just 1, 2 and 4gb cards around, but now that 8 & 16gb are really common and 32gb likely to be common just around the corner, speed is lot more important than it used to be. I think I would get nothing but 32gb class 10 micros if they were around now, fill 'em up in about 49 minutes or less....maybe by this time next year...

Even though I've got a 32 gig touch I still think about getting one of these and a 16 gig card and shoving a collection of audiobooks on the thing so I've got something to listen to if the touches battery ever goes. Daft innit.

Sounds a good rationalization as any to become a member of the Clip Cult. Free Cool-Aid & as much great sound in an awesome little device as you can stand. 38~ bucks gets you in the door with the best deal Amazon.com: SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 4 GB MP3 Player (Red): Electronics, tack on another 20 or so and you can hang around and listen that much longer: Amazon.com: SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 8 GB MP3 Player (Black): Electronics

THat's what I did; got the Clip+ for use when the T51's battery gives out on me if I'm on the road or something. At home the T51 gets a lot of use though

Just curious - how much of a difference does your amp make to the initial stock output of clip+? Is it night and day or just a little boost here and there? :P

Ah I can do that Let me go and plug it up, I'll post an update in a second

Alright I did a quick listen.
Song: Al Di Meola: Tales of the Black Forest
320kbs (don't have any FLAC/classical on the Clip right now :/)
Interconnects: Silver/Copper IC (x2) Gold/Copper IC
Amp: Alo Rx
Phones: UM3Xs

I started the song with the amp and everything plugged in. The sound was very full, the details all there, and everything sounded great. You can tell where the two guitarists are (one at... say 1:30 and the other at around 1030 about 3 feet back).
Doing a little direct comparison as I'm listening with the T51 now, the players are a little farther away on the T51, more like 7 feet instead of 3 on the Clip; soundstaging a little more accurate on the T51.

Anyway, when moving from the amp to the HO, the music still sounded good. As for night and day? I can't really say because night and day for me might be morning/day for you. What I can say, however, is that the stage was compressed a bit more (players about 3 feet apart and the depth came in a bit) and the sense of space was slightly lost. It moved from full 3D to about 2.2D (if that makes any sense).

So... yea the amp is a good addition to the clip although it depends on how revealing your headphones are. The UM3Xs are very, very good at imaging and soundstage, that's why I mainly talked about it in this little writeup. It sounds great out of the Clip HO but it just shows how great these phones are when they're plugged into a good amp like the ALO Rx and fed from a good source.

Thanks a lot for the quick response - seems I will be getting myself an amp. I personally am not satisfied with the 2.2D and it's been bothering me this entire time coming from speakers(basically the strong point was soundstage - for me it's very very easy to tell flac from 320 on speakers(the soundstage is just significantly noticeable enough) but so far not much difference on my iems. Hoping this portable amp kicks it into overdrive for me

No problem. What amp are you thinking of getting?

OK. After reading all the ravings about the Sansa Clip+, I had to purchase one to see if anything had changed from the V1 Clip I used to own (battery fried).  After a day comparing the Clip+ with my Sony A818 I can honestly state the following:

 

1) The quality of sound from the original Clip has been greatly improved.  The "grainy" sound I used to hear is no longer audible through my Denon C700.

2) The power (amplification) is now weaker.  It has a much harder time driving my Denon C700 and D1000s then I remember.

3) The pitch issue is gone (THANK GOD)

4) The EQ is still absolutely garbage.

 

The most interesting item I have found is that the clip is significantly better with BAs then dynamics. 

 

Comparing the Clip+ with the A818 using the Triple.fi 10, the two DAPs sounded extremely similar.  The Clip+ was actually a little more airy, which also made it thinner.  The Sony was slightly more liquid.  The noise floor on the Clip+ seems lower making the Sony feel bloated at times.  I actually preferred the Clip+ with the Triple.fi

Comparing the Clip+ with the A818 using the Denon C700, they were slightly different.  The Clip+ seemed to suck out the vocals.  Somehow the bass became overwhelming on the Clip+ compared to the Sony.  I preferred the Sony with the Denon C700.

 

Edited by DKaz - 5/11/10 at 4:16pm

Very nice comparisons DKaz, great to know the pitch problem I had been hearing about has been fixed. Your also yet another person that prefers a sansa player with an easier to drive armature driver than to a dynamic driver.

The sound quality of my Clip+ has considerably improved after 20 or 30 hours. Now I like it even better than my iAudio 7: It's crisper and has more sparkle on the upper treble – compared to more midrange and lower-treble sparkle with the iAudio 7 which makes it smooth and warm, but at the cost of imaging and bite. I don't notice a clear preference for a specific earphone; I like it with all of my three IEMs: (modified) ER-4P, IE 8 and Audéo PFE 112, with a slight preference for the ER-4P to date.

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Awesome, glad to see you like it. Referring to the EQ comment you made a while back, you should think about Rockboxing it. It gives you a load of little helpful features (one being a 10(it is 10 right?) band equalizer) which makes the player a little better. 

 

Of course Rockbox is free :)

Haha... I missed this! but got my amp, pico slim, and lovin it - now onto find a better source!
 

I agree! I have two primary IEMs and I enjoy the synergy of my BAs with the clip - I would say more comparable to my home source and not altering the signature/enjoyment too much wheras my dynamic seems to suck out the lush and spacious signature that it has coming from a non-portable source

 

Hmm.. gonna try this then - afraid because it's unstable - I actually rockboxed an older e260 and the UI is so primitive and there are way too many ways to customize the settings.. oh well :P